Tuesday, September 29, 2009

I am 17 weeks pregnant today and into my 5th month! I read that this next week my babies will be hearing noises like my heart beating and the blood flow. They will even hear noises outside my body too. This past Thursday while I was laying in bed, I started to feel something like a poke! I quickly realized I was feeling my babies move! I'm pretty sure it was one of the monos that I felt first because of the location of the movement. I started feeling a little from Baby B too. Yesterday I finally felt Baby A! I heard that it's harder to feel the flutterings when they are really low (like A is). Seeing our babies on ultrasound was extremely cool, but feeling them is a whole new marker. I am guessing that later on I will get kicked a little too hard (maybe in several areas at once) and get kept awake at night because of the party going on in the uterus, but for now I love it!

The belly pic really shows a difference this week! It's so funny- day to day I don't feel like I'm getting bigger, but when I look at a week's difference on the pics, it is obvious!

It was fun to see friendly faces at the St. Olaf football game. Everyone we knew seemed to have heard through the grapevine, and we got many well wishes and congratulations. I even got to see my college track and cross country coach! On the drive down I-35 to the game, we were going about 75, but Odin still wanted to put his head out the window. He is such a typical dog! I hope you like this video- a little comic relief! (Make sure you watch till the end.) Have a great rest of the week!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Just had my 16 week appointment this morning! We are having 3 girls and 1 boy!! I thought for sure I'd be having more boys than girls, but Dan's guess was 3 girls and 1 boy. Who knew?! A mother's intuition is not always right...I'm so happy to pick out girl clothes but a little nervous for those middle school/high school years (hehe)!

Today's appointment was very positive- all of them are growing so well. The last ultrasound showed Baby A (who has a bad cord insertion and only 2 vessels) was the smallest, but now she's the biggest (although not too much different than the others). Baby C is the smallest- she is the other baby with a bad cord insertion. She may continue to be smaller, but as of right now she's not off by much. Baby D is all the way up right under my rib cage! I had no idea they were that high already! The tech said she expected the monos' cords to already be tangled, but so far they're not! All of the babies are about 5 ounces with heart rates all around 150.

The tech, the nurses, and the doctor are all astounded how well all the babies are doing and that I feel so good. They told me to "keep doing what you're doing because it's working!" I'm not showing as much as everyone thought and it's because my torso is long enough to fit all of them! I haven't felt them move much but it could be any day- that will be a big marker for me. The bump pic below is at 16 weeks- I don't look much bigger than 15 weeks! My next appointment is in 2 weeks and it's going to be a very thorough ultrasound which will probably take more than 3 hours!

I hope everyone's having a great week so far! This weekend we'll probably go to the St. Olaf Homecoming football game so maybe I'll see some Oles!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I am 15 weeks pregnant today! The average quad pregnancy is about 30 weeks, so that means I'm halfway there! (32 weeks is our goal, but the babies would be pretty safe at 30 weeks or even 28.) Too bad I just finished the easy half! I can't even imagine actually having four little babies at home right now. It seems way too far in the future, but I'm guessing it will fly by faster than I ever thought. I guess I should savor my sleep and my non-huge body while I can.

I still feel really good. My appetite is insatiable though! Last night, for example, I ate about the same as Dan, and while he was uncomfortably full for the rest of the night, I had to keep snacking half an hour later and until bed! Sometimes this appetite is annoying because I run out of food that I actually feel like eating. My only complaints are tiredness and occasional backaches or headaches. Oh, and I get really antsy between appointments. I really want to know how they are all doing. Hopefully next Wednesday our news will only be good news. We are really lucky so far and I hope this continues through the rest of the pregnancy. You can see in the pic my belly is noticeably bigger this week!

Who else in MN is aching for real fall weather? Not to be the typical Minnesotan who constantly talks about weather, but really, my favorite season is fall. I love the crisp air and the smells of fall. We plan on taking a nice drive during the color peak- hopefully stopping at an apple orchard or pumpkin patch. I think I love fall so much because it reminds me of cross country running. My favorite runs from high school and college were in the 50-60 F weather and stopping at apple trees after the workout. This weekend I'm heading to Duluth, which will have more fall-like weather. Dan's heading to my cabin with his brother and possibly a cousin to bring home the bird meat! (partridge hunting) Last time he went I think they got their limit in partridge...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

I had another ultrasound/check-up today! Only our baby B would kindly show off his parts (hard to get a good enough views for the others). Baby B is still the biggest and he has been the most photogenic through every ultrasound! I love in the pic of B that you can see his vertebrae and other bones- a new development.

Baby A is giving us yet one more problem. Usually a baby's cord will have 3 vessels- one vein and two arteries, but sometimes a baby will only have 2 vessels. 15 out of 100 of babies with 2 vessels end up having bad growth problems, so the odds are still in our favor. This new problem is on top of the bad insertion too! The good news is that Baby A is still growing at the same rate as before so there's no evidence of problems yet :)

C and D are both growing just as they should. Stay out of trouble you two! Here is my 14 week belly picture. I look a little bigger than the 13 week one.

We saw a different doctor today. He seemed pleased with how the "five of us" are working harmoniously. Starting at 24 weeks we have to watch C and D more carefully because of possible cord problems. We also have to just wait and see how baby A grows... come on buddy!

We saw a genetic counselor, because with multiples it is standard procedure. She said we're young with good family history so she doesn't see a need to order extra tests to look for genetic problems. I figured that would be what we'd hear from her!

Some sad news we heard today was that one of the partners in this physician group passed away a week ago. This man, Dr. Burrus, is a doctor that I noticed right away when I knew I was coming to the MN Perinatal Physicians because I saw on the website that his area of special interest was mono-mono twins. The death happened totally out of the blue- he was hit by a car. The tech said that this guy is one of those guys that could change your life. This news hit both Dan and I pretty hard considering we've never met him. Keep his family in your prayers...

On a lighter note, Dan and I joined my parents for a long weekend at my cabin, which is 20 min east of Ely right outside the BWCA. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, especially considering Ely (along with all of MN) had a cooler summer. The water was perfect for swimming and it remained sunny. My mom was the only one with luck in fishing, catching a nice Northern. Luckily Dan is an expert at cleaning fish since Northerns are notoriously tricky in de-boning. Watching this video makes me miss being up there! Look how beautiful! The video of Odin proves he'll never be a "dock dog" but he is getting better than before when he would have to run to find water that is shallow. He is an amazingly fast swimmer!

My next appointment is 9/23- another routine checkup and ultrasound (getting so spoiled that I get to see them so often!) We should know the sexes of the other three at that apt!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The 13 week mark was yesterday (Tuesday), so that means I'm officially in the second trimester! Since we go to the doctor so often it seems like I should be further along, but I'm happy where I am! Also, over just a couple of days this past week my belly has "popped"! Ok, so strangers are not going to assume I'm pregnant or ask when I'm due, but it is noticeable to people who know me! Here's proof. The first pic is at almost 10 weeks and the second one is almost 13 weeks. Dan and I thought I had a noticeable baby bump at 10 weeks!

Symptoms I've had are just tiredness, achy lower back at times, and a stretching pain over my stomach (from the uterus expanding I guess?). I'm really lucky I haven't had the morning sickness or anything too unpleasant yet. I have to savour this point of the pregnancy because I have a feeling my tummy will enlarge at an exponential rate! I'm officially done with my seasonal job at Linders which means I won't be on my feet as much (draining). Now I'll have extra time to do whatever I want- relax, read, etc before the madness comes!

My next appointment is this coming Wednesday. The two week wait in-between appointments is a little nerve wracking. Are they all still doing well and growing? Are the monos staying out of each others' cords? We just have to wait! Ahh! The next appointment includes another ultrasound and genetic counseling. We have pretty clean family health records so I'm not too worried!

I had to include this video of Odin from awhile ago (sorry for the shaky camerawork). It doesn't really do justice to his actual lion stalking capabilities. Usually he gets low and moves each leg really slowly so he doesn't make a peep. He's a funny dog...

Our Precious James

About Me

I've been married for over two years to my wonderful husband, Dan. Our family has grown with the birth of our spontaneous quadruplets on December 9th, 2009 at only 27 weeks and 1 day gestation. The first baby out was Sofia Taylor, followed by Madeline Sue, Josephine Louise, and lastly James Daniel, who is now in heaven. We are absolutely in love with them all and cannot wait to watch the three girls grow!